


despite your destination

by pepsipink



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Family Drama, Fatherhood, Gen, dante adopts baby nero thats the fic, mentions of dante/lady, mentions of nero/kyrie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2019-06-17 08:30:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15457350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pepsipink/pseuds/pepsipink
Summary: Dante can't just sit there knowing his brother left some innocent kid to struggle with his fate. Even if Nero had been adopted into a perfectly normal family - Nero would not benormal.The least Dante can do is soften the blow.





	despite your destination

**Author's Note:**

> if you were to ask me something i think about nearly 24/7 my answer would be "dante's big heart"

Dante knew something was up when she showed up - looking  _ very _ out of place,  _ very _ nervous, and  _ very _ pregnant. 

His gut reaction was  _ panic _ , but he knows where he’s been, and he knows that this woman is definitely not from around here, and he hasn’t laid eyes on her before this very moment. He doesn’t know what she had to do to travel here, and he doesn’t really want to know, but it freaks him out - a lot - and he isn’t sure how to react, so he pretends to keep his cool, and go with the flow.

It had only been a few months since his shop had finally re-opened after being absolutely decimated in the wake of his brother’s fuckshit, and business was… slow… but the few requests he’d gotten kept the bills paid, for now - even though he was quite literally living payment to payment. This girl doesn’t look like she has money - it looks like she’s got  _ questions _ , and Dante has no idea if he’s going to be able to answer them. He has to be serious, because the very concept of a mother trying to look after her child really drives him over the edge and taps into an emotion he didn’t think that he was able to feel anymore. He was always fairly empathetic, as much as it sucked ass, but this wasn’t even empathy - it was something a lot more.

It hurt.

He looks at her - and knows she’s not his type. She was very beautiful, but very refined - with long brown hair that she had tied back in a twist, and an olive complexion that looked as though she didn’t really expose herself to the sun too often. She’s dressed much more conservatively than he’s used to around here - neck down, in a dress that practically screamed  _ cult _ \- her belly rounded beneath her dress, draping down nearly to her feet. Twenties - or younger, with green eyes that were full of complexity. 

She hasn’t even opened her mouth yet.

Dante sits  _ on _ his desk, trying to mask his emotions, practically begging to the gods above that this doesn’t actually have anything to do with him - and yet when she prepares to speak, and all he can hear is her voice struggling to ask what’s been burning on her mind, he breaks a little - and he dips his head so he doesn’t have to look at her.

“I know he wasn’t you - I thought, maybe you’d know - “

“I haven’t seen him in months, sweetheart.” He says, “Did you need something from him?”

“Just - I don’t know… closure… he told me he’d come back - he wasn’t lying. He had a vision - and - “

Dante grits his teeth - that  _ was _ his plan. No, he wasn’t lying - he did have a vision. All of his ideals were shitty, and now he’d brainwashed this girl - probably for his plan, and Dante does not want to  _ deal _ with any of his brother’s stupid fucking baggage. 

“I don’t even know if it’s his - it’s been my job… but he - “ She presses her palm to her cheek, “I don’t know what I did to earn his attention. I housed him - for a few months. I never meant to stay in that town - I wouldn’t have if I hadn’t met him.”

“How far along?”

“Eight… eight months.”

This fucking sucks.

“Listen - I’m not… keeping any information from you ‘cuz I’m tryin’ to protect him or anything. You can tell me as much as you want - my brother disappeared, fuck knows where. I haven’t seen him since the beginning of the year.” Dante hops down from his desk, “I don’t have a lot - I don’t know how you got here, but I can probably pay for a ride back. If you’ve got any info you want to leave, I’ll take it, but I can’t promise you that he’ll even show up here should he come back.”

“I can’t… take care of a baby.”

“Then why’d you keep it?” He asks, “If you don’t even know if it’s his.”

“He told me we had a future - that I’d stand by his side.”

“I’m sorry that you fell for his bullshit, then, babe.” Dante frowns, feeling sick to his stomach. “I can’t get you back to him - I  _ don’t know _ where he  _ is _ .”

And though it’s a bullshit lie - Dante knows very well where his asshole brother fucked off to - he means it. He can’t get her to him - and even if he could, he wouldn’t - this girl has been through enough, and doesn’t need any more of Vergil’s torment.

“When you say you can’t take care of your kid - is it sincerely not in your best interest? Or are you just… disheartened with the idea of an 18 year commitment.”

“It’s not really much of your concern.”

“If it’s my brother’s - then, yeah. It kind of is, actually.”

“I’ll leave you my information.” She says, her hand gently placed upon her stomach. “I had to search far and wide to find you - and seeing your face…”

The young woman pauses. 

“I know that he meant what he said.”

“I know he did too.”

Vergil didn’t break promises - he just sucked at seeing things through because of his own fucking greed. And if it really is a fucking  _ baby _ that he brought into this world just for the sake of his own ideals - then Dante’s got more of a problem with him than he did even five minutes ago. 

And he watches this girl reach for her coat once more, shrugging it onto her shoulders, and it fills him with something worse. He knows that this girl has no intention of raising a child without Vergil’s assistance. He knows that she’s going to pack up and leave her community without a trace - perhaps even in search of him. He knows he’s never going to hear from her again.

And holy shit - it scares him a little.

 

* * *

 

 

He tends to remember things at the worst possible time, and he’s got a big mouth so whatever’s on his mind usually slips.

The woman plagued him for a bit - but his life was busy. It slips his mind.

After all, it’s not his baby. He doesn’t know if it’s his brother’s baby. He has more important things to worry about - like trying to maintain a relationship. A real relationship - and he doesn’t know what he’s doing there. Dante didn’t  _ date _ . He’s 19, and he’s never really had a  _ real _ relationship - flings, one night stands, friends that he’d fuck - but dating? Nah. That concept scared him - he was full of baggage. Dante didn’t get to have a nice, normal, quiet life - he was Sparda’s son. He had a calling to tend to - and while destroying all of demonkind was his whole schtick, he had to live with his father’s legacy, and no person on this planet wanted to deal with that.

Except maybe Lady.

The circumstances of them getting together were a little fucked, and he’s well aware, but he does have fun with her, and he cares about her a great deal. He’s told her he loved her - she hasn’t said that back, but that’s okay. They had a rocky start. 

He likes having her seated on his lap; her ass slapping against his skin as she rides him like her life depended on it. He’s usually a bit more active, but he finds himself staring at her, hands firmly placed on her hips - her eyes are half lidded, and she gasps for air. She keeps her shirt on, too much effort to strip herself of it with how she stormed into his bedroom and practically slapped him out of his daze so they could fuck. Something about her getting into a fight with one of her old friends, and how they were mad at her for continuously putting herself in danger with how often she went out demon hunting lately - they didn’t understand. Dante understood though, Dante could listen to her - he could fuck her and have her forget. 

Forget her father, and how guilty she feels after shooting him between the eyes.

Except he’s… not really fucking her - she’s fucking him. He’s just kind of sitting there, lost in thought, holding her close like she wanted. But she cups his face with her hand, snapping his gaze forward, and he’s met with her heterochromia, her expression reads  _ annoyed _ , and he knows he’s about to hear it.

“You’ve got superhuman endurance - gonna use those hips, or should I just fuck myself?”

“I think my brother knocked up a prostitute.”

She freezes - eyes wide, distinctly aggravated. 

“Are you fucking serious? You’re saying this shit to me right now?”

Dante doesn’t break, and sits still. She’s still… on him, and honestly, was pretty close, but his big mouth, his  _ big fucking mouth _ . 

“I’m sorry.” He exhales as Lady practically shoves him back against his headboard. She gets up, and searches for her clothing, scattered throughout the bedroom. “Lady, I didn’t mean - “

“Put your dick away.” She’s turned away from his sight, digging through Dante’s drawers to find something to sleep in. “How long’s this been eating at you?”

“Dunno. Couple of weeks. A month.”

He’s tucked himself back into his pants, and lays himself against his pillows - gaze pointed at the ceiling.

“She came by - super pregnant. She said she didn’t know if it was his, but I know she was lying. Verg was immaculate with his planning. She wasn’t fucking anyone else while she was with him - she spoke about him like he was fuckin’ Jesus Christ himself. She knows who he is - and she knows what she’s gonna pop out. She doesn’t want that kind of responsibility though - not without him.”

“That’s fucked.”

“I don’t… know what to do about it.”

He feels the bed dip, Lady’s fingers comb through his silvery hair.

“You don’t have to do anything about it, Dante.” She sighs, “That isn’t your child. You’ve got enough on your plate.”

He hisses through his teeth, shaking his head.

“I can’t - I can’t, I can’t. Lady, I can’t sleep - not knowing Vergil did something that was so selfish, even for him. That woman isn’t going to keep that kid - she’s gonna dump it somewhere. Christ, we’re orphans - Vergil…  _ knows _ what it’s like to have  _ nobody _ . He’s unbelievable - I feel so fucking sick over it.”

“And what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t fucking know. She gave me her address - her name. No number - if I want answers, I’d have to show my ass up there. I’ve never even heard of the goddamn town.”

She pauses; her hand withdrawn from his face. 

“What do you  _ want _ to do about it?”

“I don’t want that kid to be alone.” He says, “My asshole brother’s baby or not - kid’s still my family, and I haven’t… had family since my mom died.”

“Yeah… I get it.”

 

* * *

 

Phones were…  _ completely _ accessible. He couldn’t figure out for the  _ life _ of him why this woman didn’t  _ have one _ . He figures - okay, she’s definitely a sex worker, maybe she moves around a lot, or maybe she’s just trying to keep her identity secret. 

Nevertheless, he’s resorted to letters.

And more months pass, to the point where he’s  _ positive _ that this child has been born already. He’s getting paranoid, and he’s not getting any answers. The letters aren’t being returned, so he knows that someone out there is receiving them. He even tried his best to seem non-creepy, and like he was genuinely interested in hooking her back up with his brother. She probably knows that he’s trying to keep an eye out on her - but her unwillingness to say anything is all he needs to know what’s going on.

So he tries getting in touch with an informant, and through them, he’s given the number to the town’s directory - and he’s got her name, and her address. 

When he’s connected, and asks for her - he’s given the exact opposite of what he was hoping for, but something he knew, deep down, was coming.

“There’s… nobody by that name. And that address is a hotel - are you sure you’ve got the right town?”

Dante hangs up.

 

* * *

 

Dante turns twenty in less than two weeks, and he’s planning on stealing a baby. 

He and Lady are taking a break, because of some bullshit that he’s not proud of, but it altered his train of thought so fucking drastically that he’s been one-track minded for the past two months straight, and has been planning this shit out so it couldn’t have possibly went wrong. Before they broke up, she helped him look at legal papers - what adoption was like for someone as young as him. He’s a legal adult, but he’s unmarried, with no family, and a business that could collapse at literally any moment.

And Lady, his only support system, wasn’t speaking to him.

Dante did not know what he was doing.

He’d just purchased his first car - not too long ago. Definitely a young adult’s wet dream - a real douchebag mobile. He packs it up - with his own necessities, and some shit he gathered from a thrift shop - for an infant, and prepares to head on out.

His last resort is to call the town and redirect him to their local orphanage - foster system, and he gets through. 

“Our town is fairly tight knit. We aren’t quite sure where our new arrival came from - he was left mere weeks ago.” The woman on the phone says, “He’s about five months old. His mother left him with just a birthdate, and a blanket.”

Dante closes his eyes, taking a deep breath.

“You say you think he belongs to you?”

“Yeah - my girlfriend ran off before she told me she was pregnant.” He lies, “I just want to see him for myself.”

“He’s quite fussy; but he’s got such a wonderful smile. We’d be happy to introduce you to him.”

He’s in his car and on the road before they can try and scare him off with any other weird baby information. He doesn’t know what he’s doing - he’s absolutely clueless, but he’s about to snag his nephew and never look back.

Dante has a  _ nephew _ \- a boy. How fucking rad.

 

* * *

 

He learns that his name is Nero - given to him thanks to the black blanket he was wrapped in when he was handed over. No further information was left - simply dropped off without a trace, and left in the care of people who would hopefully treat him well.

The woman holding him seems to be incredibly fond of the infant, bouncing him and cooing at him despite his discomfort of being taken from his sleep. 

She says that he’s special, but it doesn’t sit well with him - upon arriving in the town, he quickly learns that this community worships Sparda. Dante drove past several statues on his way to the center, and the citizens were all dressed in nearly identical attire - conservative dresses and suits, and their heads were covered by hoods. He immediately recognizes the womans uniform - Nero’s mother having been dressed this way when she arrived at his business - he wonders why they have to keep their hoods up - his dad wasn’t all that worried about his image.

He can’t even think of a proper practice to worship his old man - an oddball among his own kind. His father was  _ not _ a man of refined culture, and was far more laid back than the records showed. Dante didn’t have much time with his father, no, but his memories were mostly fond, and his mother always spoke very highly of him before she died.

He thinks Sparda would see all this shit, roll his eyes, and tell these people to just live their lives the way they want to. He rescued humanity because he admired their livelihood, after all. 

Regardless, Nero’s hair is white.

He’s got curls, with a serious face, and Dante isn’t sure the kid knows how to smile until he steps a little closer, and waves his hand to him - and Nero breaks out into a grin. He’s got chubby little arms that reach out forward, and Dante’s got no clue what the boy wants him to do with those, but the woman encourages him to take Nero into his hold and see how they get along.

Nero doesn’t seem to mind it. Dante cracks a smile back.

“I understand that some people don’t have the proper resources to take care of a child.” She says, “I’ve got two of my own - my daughter is still so young, otherwise I’d have taken him into my care.”

“Are there a lot of kids dropped off here?”

“Not as of recent. Most of our children lost their parents to attacks - demons. They’re much older, though.”

Dante looks down at the infant in his arms, big blue eyes stare back at him in wonder. 

“He takes after you, quite a bit, doesn’t he? I have never seen hair quite like his…”

“Yeah. We’re a rarity.”

“You know - there was a rumor…” The young woman moves to Dante’s side, reaching a hand to brush through Nero’s curls, earning some babbling from the small boy. “People who’ve claimed to see the Dark Lord in more recent times, twenty or so years ago - they all said he had hair that looked quite like young Nero’s - and yours.”

“Hm. That so?”

His hold around Nero tightens, and he resists the urge to book it - fuck the paperwork. Just grab the kid and go.

“Nero’s special - I’d like to see him with a kind family, who will love him and treat him well.”

“Guess I don’t really fit that bill, huh.”

Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head fervently, stepping back from the two.

“Forgive me - that’s not what I meant! You drove out all of this way to come and see him, after all - but you’ve said that your partner had taken off with no intention of telling you that he’d been born.”

“Ah - look. I’m going to be honest with you.” He says, “I don’t have any family… or anything, really - but I’d like to take him. If you don’t trust me, then - that’s fine. But I couldn’t live with myself if Nero was just… left on his own, without knowing that I was here for him.”

The young woman’s eyes well with tears, taking in the image of Dante attempting to bond with the boy. No, he’s not  _ actually _ his father, but Dante’s genuine as could be. He feels so much for this poor fucking kid - this woman putting him on a strange pedestal, because he’s got hair like Sparda. He knows she means well, and that she’d watch over him - but at the very least, with Dante, he could know who he actually is. He doesn’t have to go through life not  _ knowing _ . 

“I can’t separate a child from their family.” She says, “I only ask that you keep in touch.”

He’s a little shocked, that she’s willing to give in so easily.

“I’ve spent the last month caring for him - I just want to make sure that he grows well - and if there’s anything that you might need help with, know that I would be  _ more _ than willing.”

He’s all sorts of fucked up - trying to wrap his head around this concept. That he wasn’t going to have to go into this alone, after all. 

Dante holds Nero in his arms, and he’s shaken. He wasn’t… particularly  _ fond _ of children - or had any experience with babies. Not that he didn’t want any of his own, because he  _ did _ , just… not at nineteen, and in his defense, no, Nero wasn’t his son. Dante knew better, he knew that bringing a child into this world would require a lot of thinking, and a lot of self-resolve. This baby, this kid in his arms, is of Sparda’s bloodline, and isn’t going to have a stress free life. Even if Dante wasn’t there, and he was adopted into a perfectly normal family - Nero would  _ not be normal _ . 

He hates his brother for doing this.

Nero wasn’t given a say in his life, and how he got to experience it. Dante, at the very least, was educated about his family’s legacy, and what his future might’ve entailed. Hell, Dante only just came to terms with it about a year ago. Dante wasn’t an educator, or someone fit to raise a quarter-demon child, despite being half himself, but he could damn well try. 

This woman is handing him over, and Dante doesn’t know if it’s actually the greatest idea. He doesn’t know what this kids future is, and he kind of wishes the lady would refuse, but she says she’s gathering the paperwork, and that it should be finalized by tomorrow - that they’ll pay for his hotel, but they need to hang onto Nero until then, but he’s free to hang around until they close. She’ll have to return to her own family, soon, because her daughter is only about a year old, and her son - a few years older, is a little bit hot headed and gives their babysitter a hard time. Her husband is part of their army, that protects the city from demons.

So no, she really can’t take in another child, especially when her daughter is still an infant.

If she wants Nero to succeed, and be happy - she needs to allow Dante to take him, apparently. She doesn’t ask to see any proof if they’re actually related - the white hair is enough, but so is the shape of Nero’s nose, and his blue eyes. He looks a lot like Vergil; he looks at lot like him.

Dante looks down at the boy, and presses a finger to his nose.

“I think we’re gonna get along just fine.”

 

* * *

 

The first couple of weeks are really strange. Nero’s actually… very well behaved - and through some education from Catarina, the woman who had been looking after him. Traveling to and from Fortuna takes about four hours, so he tries not to do so too often - but with Catarina’s young daughter, Kyrie, she’s able to demonstrate certain behaviors, and he’s given numerous rundowns on how to raise a baby.

Luckily, his own paternal instinct kicks in often, and Dante remembers that demonkind are very protective of their young, and at this point, Nero counts as that for him.

Three months in, Lady shows up at his door, with a strawberry sundae as a peace offering.

She’s shocked that he actually went through with it, and her boyfriend is now raising a toddler who’s almost a year old. But Lady sits on his floor, and coos at Nero, bouncing him on his chubby little legs. 

He feels bad because he’d missed her birthday while they were taking a break, and she’s so occupied with the baby that he doesn’t know if its the proper time to apologize and hand it over to her. He wants to apologize for a lot more than just the birthday, but she’s intent on making a good impression on this boy, and it’s absolutely working. 

She carries Nero around while Dante tries getting his food together, because Nero’s got a bedtime of about seven pm, and he’ll be out until about two am, when Dante typically went to sleep for some last minute care, before he was out until about nine or ten. 

Lady excitedly talks about baby Nero once he’s finally asleep, in an old crib that Dante found at a thrift shop down the street. She follows Dante around, and exclaims that she really wants to help, and it’s a little baffling - Dante’s happy to have the kid around, he’s honestly a delight, but the circumstances of this all coming together still feels wrong, and Dante’s main focus is letting this kid know that he’s loved and has family. 

Though she’s going on, and on, Dante pulls her into his arms, and presses his lips to hers - yes, in an effort to shut her up, but also they  _ needed _ to talk because they had just been no-contact for four months straight.

She looks like she’s about to slap him again, but her anger quells fairly quickly, and she nods, stepping back from his hold.

“Lady, please - I’ve been beating myself up over all this shit. Let me apologize.”

“Dante, I don’t blame you.” She says, “What you went through was really fucked up - and how you reacted made  _ sense _ . And I wasn’t in the greatest state of mind either - I just needed to think it through, and - “

“Just because it made sense doesn’t mean it was right. I’m a grown man, and I can take the goddamn criticism. And yunno what, I got a kid out of all of this shit anyway, so - guess that’s karma.”

“I was never pregnant in the first place, Dante. Killing your father can make a girl’s cycle act up.”

He laughs, turning his gaze away.

“Regardless - I’m sorry. Yeah, losing my brother really hurt - and I’m… lonely. But that’s not a good enough excuse.”

“I’ll accept your apology only if you accept mine for shooting you in the face.”

“Not the first time, won’t be the last.”

They chuckle together, and Dante’s finally able to hold Lady in his arms again - and she promises that she’s going to help him raise Nero as best as she can. She didn’t have a motherly bone in her body, but two people to look after his nephew would’ve been better than one. And for the love of god, she wasn’t letting this kid grow up on daily pizza. 

Dante thinks things are gonna be alright.

 

* * *

 

Dante and Lady break up again, for good, two years into him having Nero. 

But it was mutual, and they remain friends, and she’s still around to help. They still love each other, but as they grow older, and mature, they know they’re not good for each other, and Dante decides to take a bit of a break from dating, and focus his attention on Nero, now three.

He walks, and talks, and calls Dante “uncle,” because Dante didn’t feel comfortable trying to actually steal his brother’s title from him. Dante wants Nero to know who his brother is, and, maybe a little fucked up, have his brother be a warning of sorts. Not that Dante was telling Nero that Verg was some evil sadistic piece of shit, or that he ever would, just that his dad wasn’t around to raise him, and that Dante loves Nero as if he  _ is _ his son, so there’s no point.

Nero doesn’t ask too frequently, though, thank  _ god _ , and seems to take everything at face value. Nero’s a super funny kid, with bright eyes, and an excitement to learn about the world around him, and why Uncle Dante has so much weird shit laying around the house. Nero’s got powers, too, Dante noticing that he heals when he trips over the sidewalk because he was still trying to figure out how legs worked, and that he’s… inhumanly strong at times - breaking things pretty frequently, so Dante learns to keep his valuables out of his reach.

Dante meets his informant, and friend, a couple of months later - Morrison, who has a daughter of his own. Morrison is shocked that this twenty-three year old punk is raising a kid, and that he’s  _ super _ competent at it. He expresses concerns that perhaps Nero shouldn’t be around while they discuss their work together, but Dante tells him that Nero’s quite the same - not a normal child. He may not have as many perks, due to his mostly human heritage, but he wasn’t…  _ too _ concerned about Nero stumbling into something that he shouldn’t have.

Nero also happened to inherent some of Vergil’s smarts, but in a way that felt a little different.

 

* * *

 

Six years in, Nero starts exhibiting a lot of talent for the arts. He likes drawing, and reading comic books. He can copy pictures from cartoons, almost effortlessly, and he shows Dante and he’s always a bit stunned.

Growing up, Dante and Vergil had their own experiences with being artbrained - Dante was musically inclined, and fairly good at performing, while Vergil was into reading, and could write books in mere hours. Thanks to that, they both liked comic books, because they both got something out of it - Dante got his wild over the top love for being… eccentric, and Vergil got a passion for convoluted plots and planning that gave him the meticulous train of thought that helped him nearly destroy all of humankind. 

So Nero being able to draw isn’t all that surprising, but Dante’s excited to see where he goes with it.

What he isn’t expecting is for Nero to have difficulty picking up books; reading and writing, not for leisure, but for school. He winds up struggling a lot, and for the first time in his strange parenting adventure, Dante isn’t sure where to turn. Dante had been home schooled, up until his mother’s death, and afterwards, he had bounced from home to home and never really got the opportunity to  _ be _ school smart. He barely graduated high school, and university was stupid and out of the question. And he wishes he got the help he needed, but he didn’t really have time to struggle, and made it out pretty okay.

But Nero’s only seven, and his teachers called expressing concern.

They walk home from a complicated conference, Nero’s school bag slung over Dante’s shoulder - he’s quiet, and staring at the ground as they trudge forward. Never in his life did Dante think he’d  _ be _ in this position. 

“You don’t like school too much, do you?”

Nero shakes his head.

“It’s not easy.” Dante says, “And they want you to learn stuff that you’re not great at - but you wanna focus on your drawings, right?”

“It’s too hard.” His tiny voice mumbles, “There should be a school just for drawing. It would be more fun.”

“I know, kiddo. It really ain’t fair.”

What Nero doesn’t know is that his principal was practically interrogating Dante the whole time - questioning why, someone so young and so free-spirited was raising a child on his own. Or why Dante couldn’t just hire a tutor, or send him to a specialist. Why Lady had been picking Nero up from school so frequently even though she and Dante were unmarried. They’re questioning his authority as Nero’s caregiver, and Dante has no good answers because he  _ really _ didn’t know what he was doing. 

And while Dante wouldn’t have taken that shit from anybody, he can’t afford to blow up and get Nero suspended from the only public school in town. Dante can’t afford a private education. 

They pass by the local diner, and Dante pulls his nephew to a gentle halt.

“Hey - how ‘bout we get some ice cream.” He kneels down to Nero’s height, placing a hand atop his curly white locks. “Can get you some crayons, and you can draw those troubles away.”

“Shouldn’t I do my homework?”

“We’ll worry about that in a bit.” Dante says, returning to his full stature. “Yunno, my mom always encouraged me to work on the things that I was good at. She used to tell me and your dad that we shouldn’t put so much thought into the things that didn’t make us feel happy.”

“So I should keep drawing because I like it?”

“Hell yeah, you should.”

Maybe he could get Morrison’s kid to help tutor Nero - she was smart, and nice enough to him whenever she stopped by, despite being a couple of years older. 

He wants Nero to be successful, but moreso he wants him to be happy.

“School’s tough, bud. I’m proud of you no matter what.”

Nero bites back a smile, feeling Dante pat him on the back.

“Thanks, uncle.”

 

* * *

 

Nero’s ten when a strange woman crashes her motorcycle into Dante’s shop, and luckily, is not home.

She introduces herself as Trish, and she looks strangely like Dante’s mother, and he’s horrified.  _ Horrified _ . But she needs his help, and he can’t just…  _ ignore _ her - not when she looks like that, and this was his job after all. She was offering him money - and while he lives fairly comfortably, even with a ten year old, he still owes Lady some cash, and fuck - maybe he could get Nero some art supplies or something. 

But Trish needs him to go with her - to some island that’s quite a ways away. Another favor from Lady - to look after Nero.

Yet, Lady can’t look after him, because she’s got a mission - early in the morning, and would only be able to take care of him for maybe a day. So he has to do some quick thinking, and he’s panicking because Trish is getting a little restless, and Nero is going to be home from his friends house pretty soon.

Catarina. 

He calls, and the woman exclaims that she’d be happy to take Nero for a day or two - he and Kyrie had been writing letters to one another, and she thinks that they could bond during his stay. Luckily enough, Lady does agree to take Nero there - and even though Dante’s cursing at himself for needing to bounce his 10 year old nephew from person to person, this  _ is _ an emergency, and Dante doesn’t want to leave him alone. He doesn’t want anything to happen to his kid. He just hopes Nero’ll forgive him for the abrupt excursion to the strange city he was born in. 

Dante’s gone, with no opportunity to say goodbye. Just the promise that Lady’ll be there for Nero when he gets home, and tell him what’s going on.

 

* * *

 

Trish joins his family.

At least until Dante can get her acquainted into society, but she does become his teammate for a large period of time. She’s committed to living a human life, and wants to experience the best that this strange new world has to offer. 

Nero, on the other hand, is… smitten… with Kyrie.

When Dante had gone to pick Nero up, and met the young girl, as well as a hello to Catarina, and her son, Credo, he could tell that Nero was like,  _ shook _ . His weekend with the family was abrupt, but it seemed that he had a good enough time, which was a huge relief, but then Nero starts asking Dante about what girls like, and he can’t help but laugh out loud - it was endearing, and Dante had notorious bad luck with women, so he was unfortunately asking the wrong person.

But now he has to introduce Nero to Trish, and lets him know that they’re going to be sharing a living space for a little bit, especially because Trish is a lot like Dante and Nero, with strange abilities that set her apart from most of society. Nero had seen demons in the flesh, but this was probably a strange concept, because vast majority of the time, Dante was destroying them - yet here he’s telling the kid that Trish is trustworthy, and a friend. But Nero’s chill with it, or like, he just… is too preoccupied with how much fun he had with Kyrie to really put all that much thought into it.

His art changes around this time; suddenly into character action - with characters that looked really bad ass, fighting with cool weapons.

Apparently, he and Kyrie were playing some games while they were together, and got really involved in creating their own characters that were going to save the world. He’s drawing them out, and the scenes that they talked about, and he’s gonna send her them in the mail.

Another thing that Nero brings up, is that he wants Dante to teach him how to fight. Nero already had a talent for it, but their styles were a little different - and while Dante did work hard to train himself in his youth, he’s also clueless as to how to teach a ten year old how to do all of that. When he asks Nero  _ why _ he’s suddenly into fighting, he says that - yeah, he thought Dante looked cool whenever he slung his sword over his shoulder, and how he was talented with his guns - but he got to see  _ Credo _ in action - because this… 14 year old is in the army, and Nero’s never seen that kind of thing. Not around here. 

Dante was a devil hunting mercenary, but he was very free-spirited in his antics.

Credo, from what Dante understands, was much more controlled.

Truth be told, Catarina and her family were lovely, but he really didn’t want Nero getting involved in all that shit - with worshipping Sparda - cult-like. He doesn’t think Nero’s like, all that into it, though - he’s just - excited to have new friends, and someone closer in his age that he could look up to. 

Dante promises to teach Nero some of his tricks, but he makes Nero promise to use his wonderfully crafty little brain to come up with original moves - to follow his fighting soul, and to just be himself on the battlegrounds.

Nero comes to him a couple of days later, with drawings for a sword that he envisioned - and Dante says that he’ll see what he can do.

 

* * *

 

Nero’s eleven - nearly twelve, when Patty shows up.

She’s really something else, but she’s weirdly intrigued in Dante’s not-so-normal life, and this boy who doesn’t really talk all that much, but when he does, he’s got bite. But Patty’s orphaned, and Dante’s stupid, soft heart can’t… ignore that. She doesn’t live with them, but she’s by often enough that he’s practically raising her too.

And though Dante complains, and then he complains more when Lady returns after fucking off for a couple of months straight, and when Trish returns from her excursions from city to city, and Morrison always on his back about  _ something. _

Dante’s heart has never felt so full.

 

* * *

 

Dante tries dating again, and he meets a nice girl named Vega. She’s got dyed pink hair, and likes the same sort of music as him. She’s very laid back, and is incredibly kind to Nero upon meeting him. She’s been staying over a bit more frequently, and while Nero seems to like her, for the most part, he’s not like - too mentally present to hold a conversation, and Dante gets the hint that he’s missing Kyrie.

Patty still comes by, and Lady and Trish have started dating each other, and act like the two annoying sisters that Dante’s never asked for - but Nero’s finally found someone that he like really  _ weirdly _ connects with. Kyrie’s not his family, but his best friend - and… she’s different. 

The next time they venture out to Fortuna, though, is under unfortunate circumstances.

Kyrie and Credo’s parents have been killed - by demons, supposedly. Credo’s only seventeen, and he’s left to care for his little sister. Dante and Nero attend the funeral, along with Lady, Trish - and Vega, who’s there to show her support. 

Dante stays in town so Nero can be with Kyrie, but the longer he stays there, the more he hates it - and he sort of wants to take Kyrie too, and get them all out before something bad happens. Catarina died from  _ a demon attack _ . There are no demons here. He doesn’t sense any demons here. 

He smells rotten humans, who are trying to toy with nature. 

 

* * *

 

Nero’s starting high school soon, and he has a weird proposition. 

“I want to go to school with Kyrie.” He says, “She says that their classes are smaller, so they can focus on individual students easier…” 

“...Are you planning on living there?”

Dante lugs a large box into the office, taped up, with fragile stickers slapped all over it. 

“If you’d let me.”

No, Dante doesn’t quite want to let Nero go. He loves the kid - he raised him. And yet, after Dante had  _ maybe _ rescued his nephew from a cursed fate in Fortuna, Nero wants to go  _ back _ \- like it was his destiny to be there after all. He’s not  _ mad _ about it, of course - just… conflicted. If this is what Nero wants, then really, who is he to stop him? He’s not his father.

Dante looks at his nephew, shrugging his shoulders. 

The box is marked for Nero - for his fourteenth birthday. A gunsmith, one of Dante’s personal friends and connections, managed to make Nero’s vision come true. A sword of his very own - straight from the drawings. It was one hundred percent  _ Nero _ . 

“Does it cost a lot?”

“Credo says that because he’s in the military, he can get me in for free.” 

Dante can’t really say no to that.

 

* * *

 

Vega breaks up with Dante after her brother gets slaughtered by a demon, and with Nero now living in Fortuna, with Kyrie and Credo - he’s back to square one.

Trish and Lady still stop by, as does Morrison, and Patty - but now he sleeps alone, eats alone, and fights alone. And it kind of sucks - after all the hectic years that raising a real live quarter-demon child brought him - the quietness is strange, and even though he insists to Lady that he needs the peace, and he tells Trish that he really  _ is _ fine and doesn’t need someone to bring him ice cream twice a week - he’s sad. 

He’d sent Nero’s sword out to him just last week, and had gotten a phone-call of pure excitement. Nero talks a mile a minute - how the sword looked exactly like he wanted it to, and how cool the features were, and how they synced up with his own abilities - like Dante just  _ knew _ that it was gonna work out. 

Nero tells Dante that he loves him - and that he’s the best parent-guardian that he could’ve ever asked for.

Dante says that he loves him too, and that if he doesn’t come back for the holidays that he’ll kick his ass.

 

* * *

 

It’s been a few years, and Dante’s gotten back into the swing of things. 

Nero’s almost done with school, and has apparently joined Fortuna’s whole demon slaying schtick over there. He calls frequently, and sends Dante his artwork in the mail - he’s gotten a lot better, now that he’s 17, and has a wide range of style. For Dante’s birthday last year, Nero had drawn a portrait of Eva - full blown on a canvas - and Dante has no idea what to do with it because hanging it up really wouldn’t convey just how much it means to him. 

He can plaster it outside his shop, with big words that say  **“MY TALENTED AS FUCK NEPHEW DREW THIS SHIT CAN YOU BELIEVE IT”** but he’s not trying to kill the kid with embarrassment. 

Nero and Kyrie are  _ dating _ , and he’s super happy for them. They’re a good couple, and she’s very much in love with him - and it shows. Even though Credo seems to have one hell of a stick up his ass.

Nero’s having an okay time, and that’s what matters.

Dante’s much less lonely now that his life has been fairly mundane. He doesn’t feel like he’s taken a step back, with having his nephew out the house, but a step forward - and he’s sort of living out his carefree life the way that he wouldn’t have been able to when he was eighteen, before he met Nero.

He’s finally reached his prime, being in his mid-thirties now, and he’s much more confident than he’d ever been - and it’s really nice. 

Dante never quite thought he’d be able to just… sort of kick it, and relax, after such a hectic life.

His phone rings on one evening, right before he plans on going out gambling with Trish and Lady - and he curses, hoping that it’s just some telemarketer or something, because he’s had these plans for a while - but his and his best friends’ schedules rarely ever lined up.

But it’s Nero, and he doesn’t hesitate to cut to the chase.

“ _ U-Uncle - m-my arm. _ ” He gasps. “ _ It’s - it’s not human - _ “

And well - the peace was nice while it lasted.

**Author's Note:**

> ([tumblr](http://www.pepsipink.tumblr.com)) & ([twitter](http://www.twitter.com/sodapopcore))


End file.
